5 comments about Design Like You Give a Damn: Architectural Responses to Humanitarian Crises.

1. We purchased this book for our son. He is deeply committed to 'green' projects. This will give him testimonials of others in his field to aid him in his own work for clients who have the desire to lessen their carbon footprint.
   
   Sincerely,
   F. Albuquerque



2. Great book. Very cool practical applications to problems using environmentally sound solutions. Beautiful pictures and I especially liked the $8 tent clip. Brilliant.



3. I'm not an architect, but I enjoy the craft as a whole. I saw this book on a PBS science show and had to check it out. Once I finish reading it, I'm passing it on to my architect friends to inspire them to think of the more basic level of need for their talents. Living in the US, I have always taken for granted having a place to live, but seeing how many people around the world need homes is staggering. Kudos to those architects that face the problems of these people. They should be recognized for their innovative uses of stuff as simple as PVC pipe and tarp.



4. This book is an important counterbalance to the plethora of glossy coffee table books about architecture that glorify starchitects and their creations, which usually only benefit their wealthy clients. If only the architectural journals would plaster these projects on their front pages instead of oh-so-chic homes and corporate headquarters. The world is facing a housing crisis, but most architects are not trained to respond to this crisis in massive, innovative ways that go beyond the feel-good student trips to build a couple of houses for people in need. This book should be required reading in all architecture schools, architecture practices, and architectural publishing offices. The profession - as with so many other professions - has lost its way. This book can be one small step toward recovering the reality that architecture is a collaborative endeavor that entails public responsibilities.



5. This is truly an inspiring book! I originally bought this for architect friends whose humanitarian vision parallels many of those in this book. Even they were thrilled and inspired. I plan to give it to others for Christmas this year..Lets hope soon everyone will have a place to live that will be their own.

5 comments about Graphic Guide to Frame Construction: Details for Builders and Designers (For Pros by Pros).

1. I do a lot of non-professional new construction. For me, visualizing the right way do do something is the problem. Once the skin is on a building I have no idea what lies underneath -- I have no 'guide' to model my construction after. Also, building according to convention is useful -- for instance, it's good to know that you can expect to find a vertical stud in a wall every 16 or 24 inches, regardless of who built the building and when -- and this book clarifies what those conventions are.
   
   This is a great book. The graphic representations are exceptionally clear and detailed. Many alternatives are given, and in building you simply choose the alternative that gives you the most of what you want and follow the diagram.



2. Have been using this reference for years as an Architect. Probably the best one out there that covers all the basics. Not overly complicated. Could use an advanced version for more complicated details, especially in roofing (half-hips, etc.) and foundations.
   Great reference for the nomencalture of all the parts.
   Do not expect to build from it as codes and structural sizing are required and vary too much, but good, basic detailing and understanding overall with plenty of illustrations.



3. This is a good reference for framing details, which I turn to frequently as we work on the design for our new home. That said, there are numerous gaps and while some might be excused as esoteric, like framing a swept roof at the eaves (though it is pictured on the cover of the book), many others are not, such as flashing at masonry entry steps. I would like to see the book updated to include more "Building Science" lessons, OVE (Optimum Value Engineering)and perhaps SIPS. Still a good book, overall.



4. this has all the needed info for and details needed to get a proyect going and to confirm your ideas againts it. it was a very good reference book for checking up on those shady areas of construction with wood frames.



5. Unless you are a professional contractor, and if you are, you don't need this book anyway. I built a garage earlier this year and purchased this book as a reference. This is a very detailed book, but be careful and check your local codes. I would consult a contractor first in your local area, most will talk to you at no charge, if they want to charge you, keep looking

5 comments about The Solar House: Passive Heating and Cooling.

1. I've read many other green building books. What I liked about this one was that it really goes into the nuts and bolts more - it give more detail than other books including some of Dan Chiras's other books - which I guess makes sense since it is about a limited area/topic.



2. This book covers much more than Solar Energy by including many energy saving features to build into a house. I bought a copy for both my Architech and General Contractor.



3. Everyone I talked to stated this as the first book someone should read to come up to speed on passive solar designs. And it is a good overview. But only an overview, providing lots of concept and a few "rules of thumb" only. Taken for what it is, this is a very good introduction to passive solar concepts. You'll have to look elsewhere for more detailed information if you plan to participate in the design phase of a passive solar building, or to learn enough to evaluate another's design. There are a few good references in the book to other materials as well.



4. My copy of this book is a mess. It has highlighting and notes all throughout the pages and looks well worn even though I've only had the book for a year.
   
   When the time came to do some studying on solar design, this was the book that was recommended to me. And for good reason - it packs a wallop and provides SO MUCH great information in its pages. At the time I got the book I was somewhat of a novice to solar building and was concerned that the book would have too much jargon or concepts that I didn't understand, but Chiras does such a great job explaining everything in layman's terms that by the time I finished the book I felt like an expert myself.
   
   I HIGHLY recommend this to ANYone looking to building solar/green. I consider it the best of the bunch.



5. This book is excellent and received in great condition. Thank you. - jac

2 comments about Lewis.Tsurumaki.Lewis: Opportunistic Architecture.

1. If you are a fan of LTL's work, this monograph covers the vast majority of their work to date. Every project is presented by both good photography and/or the hybridized graphics LTL has become know for; as well as explinations as to how and why each was developed. While this is the typical format for an architectural monograph, it's not the main reason I am giving this book a high review. Ten pages toward the end of this book are dedicated to explaining, in detail, the 5 Tactics for an Opportunistic Architecture the firm uses as the basis for their work. These tactics provide for a much deeper explination into all of LTL's projects, and are published as a kind of "work in progress". Seeing an architect put their ideas out in print the same way a programmer publishes open source software is both refreshing, and inspiring.



2. Lewis Tsurumaki Lewis continue to go from strength to strength as they progress from unbuilt theory and competition entries to built work. I envied them in school, and I appreciate them now I'm working as an Architect. This monograph is a perfect follow up to the Pamphlet Architecture "Situation Normal". Some of the work is re-presented here but 90% of it is fresh and new. If you ever wanted to see a beautifully clean (even restrained) approach to presenting a project through renderings and fantastic perspectives - this is the book for you.

1 comments about The Endless City.

1. Mega cities: New York, London, Shanghai, Mexico City, Johannesburg, Berlin, are undergoing major transitions. Shanghai is increasing leaps and bounds, yet Johannesburg is shrinking. People are migrating to the city for jobs and clearly it is a global trend. By 2015, Lagos may have more people than Mumbai. With discount airlines, internet and globalization, it is easier to move to another city. European Union now has 27 countries, 500 million people. Where do they go? London, Paris or Berlin? Greater Tokyo will have 54 million, Euro-Lowlands (Ruhr-Cologne, Amsterdam-Rotterdam, Brussels-Antwerp, Lille) will get 50 million, Urb-Italy (Milan, Rome, Turin) gets 47 million, etc. A taconomy of towers, green city, build a community, public space, etc are urgent issues facing the increasing population of the mega cities.
   
   I have traveled to most of these cities. I do agree with the findings of this book, "people are moving to mega cities in every country". For countries such as Japan and Germany, there was little increase in population. Many cities in East Germany now appear to be ghost towns. The government needs to change its policy, allowing more immigrants. Since the birth rates in these two countries are very low, immigration is the only way to increase populations. With more people, government will get more tax revenues and the economy will grow.
   
   The book will be better if it covers cities such as Paris, Frankfurt, Stockholm, etc. Eastern Europe is not included at all due to the lack of mega cities.

5 comments about The Poetics of Space.

1. I don't know if the problem is in the content of the book, or in the translation, but the book was almost incomprehensible. Unfortunately, I don't speak French, so I can't read the original and compare them, but I suspect it is the translation, which appeared a bit stilted and unnatural (similar to translations of Frederick Bastiat's The Law, or Pierre Boulle's Planet of the Apes, both of which were oddly worded, although easily readable, and Bastiat wrote more than 150 years ago).
   
   Maybe the translator didn't quite understand the topic, or have a conversational grasp of the English language, either of which would make translating difficult. I almost picked up my Strunk & White's Elements of Style to review their readability formula just to quantify how dense this book was, but restrained myself.
   
   To the reviewers I read before buying this book, now I understand why a number of them wrote things like, "you have to be able to sit back and ponder the book, savoring the words before digesting them." I took this as a sign that there were deep meanings that mesmerized the reader, and looked forward to it. No. To translate that phrase into common English, it means, "the translator has an Oxford English Dictionary and he's going to use it."



2. I don't get why this is the bible of architects. Its boring as hell. Sure people are affected by the spaces they inhabit for various conditioning reasons. OK thats obvious but do I need to read a whole book written in pompous philospeak to learn that.
   
   Honestly I put it down half way. Too boring and too many other things to read. Life is short.



3. Book itself was in great condition, and was waiting at home for me sooner than expected.



4. This book is hardly new, but Bachelard's analysis of the psychology of space remains as fascinating and lyrical as when it was first published. I've recommended this book to artists and sculptors and students over the years, and they in turn recomend it to others. Bachelard went on to write a book on the poetics of reverie and the "psychoanalysis of fire" but his book on space remains the most readable and the most genuinely poetic.



5. ........ this book is about house and its space and remembrance and meaning. House as protector, memory store, place in the world, construct. This is a philosophy book about house written by a poet, reflecting his views, and other's, on the importance and vital organism that is shelter. If you love word that conjures thought...and love home (whatever that means for you) I believe you will savor this book.

5 comments about The Geography of Nowhere: The Rise and Decline of America's Man-Made Landscape.

1. JHK puts together an excellent overview of the forces and personalities that defined today's American lifestyle and culture. It condenses four centuries of history, architecture, and science to create a sort of family tree of who we are as a nation and draws the map of how we got here. Not everything is perfect -- IMO he disparages Walt Disney unfairly -- but overall it is a good read that puts many of today's events in perspective.



2. Fantastic book about modern American society. One of the best. Specifically addresses what's wrong with our living spaces, and how our ideas of Americanism lead to the zoning codes that define housing development. Well told in Kunstler's sharp and descriptive style of American prose.
   
   This is the diagnosis and the companion book, Home From Nowhere, is the cure. People who want to take positive social action to improve their neighborhoods must read these books.
   
   One of the few flaws in this book, however, is the short shrift that Kunstler gives to urban crime as a motivation for the masses fleeing to the suburbs. The matter is touched upon, but inadequately so. To some extent this is a problem of the whole movement known as "the New Urbanism--" a certain reluctance to speak frankly about the reality of crime and widely held perceptions about racial conflict in society. However perhaps this flaw is understandable in light of the thought-controlling fashions of "political correctness" and, at a deeper level, how the voices of developers, architects, lawyers, and other social commentators have been chilled by the overzealous enforcement of the 1965 Fair Housing Act.
   
   Besides that one weakness, this is the strongest book on the topic I know of for the general public. It surpassed my expectations and I've picked it up again and again.
   
   I thank the author for this work.



3. This book still stays with me vividly after first reading it in college more than a decade ago. There are so many insidious ways our landscape and city planning shape us, for better or worse, and this beautiful book is a plea for a saner way to build, or rebuild, our cities. Makes me all the more grateful to live in Portland, Oregon, possibly the most incredibly laid out city this country has ever seen or will ever.



4. This is the first book I have read dealing with urban planning and development, and it has opened my eyes to a lot of things that could be done better. My wife and I have talked before about how much we would like to live in a city with good public transportation where we wouldn't need a car, and Kunstler helps me understand why we have those kinds of feelings deep down. We all enjoy being in places that are built on a human scale, where you can actually accomplish something as a person rather than flying by everything in your car.
   
   My main criticism of this book is that he makes some very strong, negative statements about Christianity that in my opinion have nothing to do with his argument, and which are mostly incorrect. In particular, he says several times that various Christian people or groups of people have helped cause the decline of the American landscape because of their beliefs relating to the end times. He makes this accusation against everyone from the Puritan settlers to Ronald Reagan. As an ordained Southern Baptist minister, I know a lot about evangelical eschatology and I haven't got a clue why it would drive anyone to build freeways and shopping malls. I think the real spiritual problems involved in destroying American towns and cities are greed and pride, not faith in Christ.
   
   Still, a reader with half a brain will be able to look past Kunstler's occasional baseless rants and see that he makes a lot of really helpful points. I wish that every mayor and city zoning commissioner in America would read this book and take to heart the idea of building meaningful places on a human scale.



5. The book is well written and provides a lot of facts, though many of these may be known anyhow. However, the author's pet idea - that the car is THE reason for aberrations in suburban development - begins to be more and more irritating as we read on; there is one large chapter devoted to the car and road planning, but if this were not enough the point gets reiterated every few paragraphs. Perhaps indeed the car is the ultimate evil of modern civilization; if only we didn't have to reread this again and again.
   As a form of compensation, we get very limited look at the social, economic and demographic causes of all landscape changes during past century. Yes, there is a mention of some historical events, such as WWII, but it disappears under the weight of all those cars blamed for commercial strips, parking lots and suburban housing. Somehow, the population growth, which the strips, suburbs, parking lots and cars try to accomodate, gets overlooked. But then, we get also a healthy dose of nostagia after the goode olde times, when towns were small, kids could play in the streets without a risk of traffic accident, and farms were the base of economy. I could not escape the impression that the author's leading motive was to lament the lifestyles gone.

1 comments about Between Earth and Heaven: The Architecture of John Lautner.

1. This book is beautiful, it has lots of pictures and drawings I had never seen before. I have been waiting for a really great Lautner book to be published because all the others show 'pretty' pictures, but I have never been able to get a true sense of the buildings (I am an architect). i was hoping this book would have the pretty pictures and more overall drawings. This book is a great complement to the 'pretty picture books' as it has images that are not regularly seen in the other Lautner books..... I just feel this book doesn't truly satisfy my need for information and clarification on these buildings.

5 comments about Creating a New Old House: Yesterday's Character for Today's Home (American Institute Architects).

1. Great book on how to update older or run down homes. The pictures are beautiful. It is a book on fine taste in home building.



2. When building our new house; we turned to this book for inspiration.
   The brand new homes in this book feel rooted to the ground. They have quirks and nooks like an old house full of character would have.
   There are rooms with a brick wall, hinting at an addition built on over time, although it's a new house.
   The subtle character that gives an old house its charm, is on full display with this beautiful book.
   I couldn't recommend this book more!



3. This book was very interesting to look at. The pictures were great if you like old style homes. The title is deceiving. I was looking for a more modern looking style but this book is still a looker but if you're looking to modernize an old home, I would recommend Colonials: Design Ideas for Renovating, Remodeling, and Building New (Updating Classic America) by Matthew Schoenherr.



4. When you open this book expect not only to view, but become alive in the pages! This book is so full of true "old" techniques, patterns, shapes, forms, and use of the home.
   Beautiful, quality pictures to make you feel as if you are right there in each room. Much to gather visually and use for your own home.



5. It's a nice book if you are expecting a general overview of renovated houses,
   one in each of several architectural types. I had expected more detail about renovating any style of old house.

5 comments about Houses of the Founding Fathers.

1. I found this book to be very interesting and one which told me more about people with whom I am acquainted and, importantly, people important to me about whom I knew little. The photography is stunning.



2. This book has not only stunning photos and info about the houses, but also tons of history. It's like "If Walls Could Talk" for all of our founding fathers' homes. Family life, politics, business, & more went on in these homes, and this book delves into all of it. However, it does ignore the slavery issue, since it isn't PC to be reminded that most wealthy landowners, North & South, had slaves; including the founders.



3. This book is a gem of photos and text about all sorts of Americans and how they lived. Most impressed that it did not just cover the usual presidents



4. The photographs were great and the short info pertaining to the individuals and their properties were interesting and informative. Well written, well photographed and a pleasure to have in our living room for others to see.



5. Houses of the Founding Fathers
   
   This book is long overdue, and well worth the wait. The photographs and text, along with the history tidbits interwoven throughout give a real sense of the life and times of those men and women who created our country. The authors have gone beyond presenting the basic architecture styles to bring us into the everyday aspects of life of our Founding Fathers and their families. The perspectives and lighting of the photographs make us believe that 'we are there'. The authors have obviously done their research and made this book easy to follow with timelines, facts, features, and explanations of how the houses came into being in the first place - and how they have fared over the past two centuries. For anyone interested in American History - this book is for you!